Istanbul, 17 February: Foreign Minister Ismail Cem said on Saturday [17February] that the serious conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan damagesthe security of the whole region.

"I think that the gathering of officials of two countries with Turkey in ameeting can contribute seriously to the search for a solution," Cem said inthe conference on "Search for Stability in the Caucasus". Cem said thatGeorgia is another important country in the Caucasus due to political,economic issues, energy production and its transportation to the world. "Weextend full support to the economy and politics of Georgia, Georgia is avery important country in the Caucasus in political respect. Georgia can bea foundation stone for the stability of the Caucasus by getting morepowerful. We have defended and we continue to defend the rights of thiscountry in NATO regarding its economic and political difficulties. We thinkthat Turkish-Georgian relations, just like Turkish-Azerbaijani relations areguarantee of the improvement of peace, development, stability and securityin the Caucasus," said Cem.

Cem said that Turkey has always concerned about the problems in theCaucasus, adding that they see that the contacts carried out between Armeniaand Azerbaijan are reaching a certain maturity level. If the sides want tocome together with Turkey, the search for a solution will gain a newmomentum by the contribution of Turkey, said Cem. Such an approach will havepositive effect on the solution of all problems in the Caucasus, hestressed.

Cem said that there are great opportunities for the Caucasian peoples in thebeginning of the 21st century. Noting that the Caucasus provides greateconomic, political and strategic opportunities, Cem said that the twoimportant aims of Turkey in the beginning of 21st century is to become afull member of EU and be a determining country in Eurasia.

Cem said that Caucasus has to use its sources and opportunities, adding thatCaucasus needs peace, stability and security for that. Cem indicated thatthe Caucasus Stability Pact has been submitted to the concerned countries asa proposal. Turkey will continue to bring peace and stability to the region,he added.

Source: Anatolia news agency, Ankara, in English 1311 gmt 17 Feb 01

Heydar Aliyev Can Agree With the Plan of Building a Common State Between Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh (?)

This proposal of the messengers was accepted by official Yerevan andStepanakert, but rejected by Baku. The Last in that time has called theplan of settling the Nagorno-Karabakh status by the principle of "commonstate" as an apparent threat to the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

Nowadays, as asserts a number of the Azerbaijani MASS-MEDIAS, HeydarAliyev is bent to accept this plan and actually has hinted about it duringthe meeting held recently in Paris, with the president of Armenia RobertCocharyan.

Official Baku while has not reacted in any way to this information oflocal MASS-MEDIAS, whereas the opposition Azerbaijani politics andmajority of the independent experts interpreted this report as Aliyev'sreadiness to conclude a secret union with the enemy. The supporters ofsuch position consider that the most important problem for the Azerbaijanipresident is the constitutional handover of power to his son IlhamAliyev. For this reason, as some Aliyev's opponents confirm, the currentAzerbaijani leader is extremely interested in a quick settlement of theKarabakh conflict, that the latter is not utilized by opposition andexternal forces as an internal political factor which is capable to blastthe situation in the republic and to close the way of Ilham towards theOlympus of authority.

Meanwhile, it is characteristic that the term of "common state" becomesrather actual for Azerbaijan and not only in connection with the Karabakhconflict.

So, some representatives of ultra nationalistic forces in Turkey,including the party in power MNR, have acted with the proposal to form acommon state including Turkey and Azerbaijan and to convert this stateinstitute into alternative to the membership of Ankara and Baku into "notabsolutely amicable tuned international organizations", particularly EUand CIS.

Text of report by Azerbaijani newspaper Yeni Musavat on 16 February entitled"France did not award Kocharyan for the joy of it" by Z. Safaroglu

[Subhead] Paris is intensifying its defeatist peace efforts

[Armenian President Robert] Kocharyan has ended his visit to France. Thevisit can be regarded as the latest reflection of that country's warmrelations with Armenia. Not satisfied with the signing of the bill on themythical genocide on the eve of Kocharyan's arrival, Jacques Chirac alsoawarded him the order of the Great Cross of the Legion of Honour. Diplomatssay that France very rarely presents such a high award to foreign leaders.

If we take account only of this factor, Azerbaijan and the entire Turkicworld have every right to accuse France of conducting a policy of doublestandards. Not only did France not criticize the aggressor, it solemnlyawarded its highest order to the terrorist leader of that aggressor state.Secondly, it encourages aggression, and thirdly, it supports terrorism. Wedo not think that Chirac called [Azerbaijani President] Heydar Aliyev whileKocharyan was in France, only out of fear of the possible consequences andin order to "make up" for his extreme pro-Armenian stance. Without bringinginto doubt the importance of this aspect of the issue, we believe thatattention should be focused on the discussion of the secret Paris agreement,which has not lost its topicality yet. Therefore, the Baku-Paris telephoneconversation again discussed a speedy establishment of peace in the region.

It is obvious that France has intensified its diplomatic activity in thepeace process. Political scientist Rasim Musabayov, a member of the Musavatcouncil, sees this as a sign of the desire of Paris to be the master ofEurope (Europeans): "We can recall that France had also seized theinitiative on the Kosovo issue and tried to tackle the issue without US intervention. But it failed. Therefore, it is difficult to say how successfulthe next attempt of this kind will be. As far as I know, France had certainrelations with Russia on this issue. Because the Kremlin also understandsvery well that the USA will seize the initiative at the last moment. Itremains to turn the agreement into a document." From this point of view, thepolitical scientist does not rule out that by awarding Kocharyan its highestorder, France is hoping that he will soften his stance and take a positionof concessions on certain issues: "It can be felt that France has promisedto increase investment in Armenia. The purpose may be the softening ofArmenia's extremely tough position again." Could France's activity lead to aconcrete result and to the conclusion of a defeatist peace agreement?Musabayov says: "It is difficult to say anything now. If it comes off, thiswill mean that Europe itself has solved its own problem for the first time."

Therefore, it is a fact that intensive work is under way to settle theconflict in any way possible. The settlement formula is based on mutualconcessions. Since the mediator states do not regard the occupation of 20per cent of Azerbaijani territory as a concession, we think it is clear whatthe talk is about. A defeatist peace is on the agenda.

Besides responding to Armenia-masterminded "genocide" talk, it is alsonecessary to put forward the initiative of achieving internationalrecognition of the genocide of Azerbaijanis, says chairman of thepermanent commission for international relations and inter-parliamentarycontacts Samad Seyidov, who is a member of the Azerbaijan delegation inthe PA CE.According to him, it is necessary to raise the issue of the genocide ofAzerbaijanis in March 1918 and on February 26, 1992. Preparations for suchdiscussions in the PA CE are already underway.Prior to the discussion of any issue in the Assembly, it is required bythe procedure to collect signatures of 20 PA members, while the Azerbaijandelegation consists of 6.Armenians themselves unleashed genocide of Azerbaijanis in 1905-1907,1918-1920, 1948-1953 and 1988-1993. Chronicles of the perpetratedatrocities will never be committed to oblivion:In 1905-1907, Armenians obliterated over 300 villages, brutally killingten of thousands of people in Baku, Tbilisi, Yerevan, Nakhchivan, Ganja,Garabagh, and Zangazur.A similar massacre was executed in March-April 1918, when Armeniansslaughtered over 50,000 Azeris in Baku, Shamakhi, Guba, Mughan, andLankaran. 1,920 houses were burnt with total death toll of 132,000 people.Some 500,000 Azeris residing in Armenia were driven out of their homes in1948-1953 and 1988-1989. Thus, Armenians succeeded in their "Armenianwithout Turks" obsession.As a result of Armenia's aggression against independent Azerbaijan in the90s, 20% of Azerbaijan territories have been occupied, 20,000 Azeris havebeen slain, over 50,000 crippled, 724 towns, villages and residentialsettlements burnt. In 1992, Armenian militants exterminated a thousandresidents of the Khojali town of Garabagh, including children, women andthe elderly.Parliamentary group on genocide to be set up"It is necessary to set up a special parliamentary group to collect factsof genocide of Azerbaijanis on part of Armenians from 1918 till 1992,inform the parliaments of different countries of the discovered evidenceand thus raise the issue internationally", says chairman of the Ana VatanParty Fazayil Agamali. The proposal to bring up the issue in the Councilof Europe Parliamentary Assembly was recently initiated by the chairman ofthe permanent commission of the Milli Mejlis on international relationsand inter-parliamentary contacts Samad Seyidov.Azernews, Issue 7 (189), February 14, 2001

ARMENIAN RECONNAISSANCE GROUP ATTEMPTS TO CROSS LINE-OF-CONTROLFrom 01.15 till 01.20 on Wednesday, an Armenian Armed Forcesreconnaissance group attempted to cross the frontline from the occupiedAjarli village of Agdam and opened sustained machine- and submachine-gunfire on the Azerbaijan Armed Forces positioned in Yusifjanli village ofthe same province. The retaliation fire forces the group to retreat. Nocasualties are reported by the MOD.AssA-Irada News, February 10-15, 2001

Azeri Defence Ministry says Armenian troops fired at Azeri positions

SOURCE: Source: Turan news agency, Baku, in Russian 1130 gmt 6 Feb 01

Text of report by Azerbaijani news agency Turan on 6 February

Baku, 6 February: The subunits of the Armenian army fired at theAzerbaijani army positions in the vicinity of Balliqaya village ofGoranboy District on 5 February from 2030 to 2040 [1630-1640 gmt] localtime. The shots were fired from the Murovdaq mountain range which has beenunder the Armenian occupation since 1993. The Azerbaijani Defence Ministryreports that there were no losses.

February 08, 2001, ThursdayBBC Summary of World Broadcasts

Karabakh peace talks pushed onby Vugar MamedovThe Baku Sun

Azeri President Heidar Aliev and his Armenian counterpart Robert Kocharyanwalked away from their latest meeting over the Karabakh conflict withdifferent assessments about the momentum toward peace.

The leaders of the warring countries talked privately for anhour-and-a-half in Paris last Friday, much longer than had been scheduled.They were then joined by French President Jacques Chirac, their host, forlunch and further conversation.

Aliev and Kocharyan declined to disclose the details of their conversationto journalists, keeping with a precedent they established during their 13previous closed-door meetings over the past two years.

Aliev, as he usually does, said that the meeting had been productive butthat much difficult negotiating remained before a Karabakh settlementcould be reached. He repeated that both sides must make major compromisesto reach peace.

"The negotiations are progressing slowly with some difficulties involved,"the Azeri president said upon his return to Baku Saturday.

In Paris, Aliev told journalists that he and Kocharyan were in agreementthat they needed to "continue to seek a solution to this extremelydifficult problem."

Kocharyan, as he usually does, gave similar comments. But he was unusuallyoptimistic about prospects for success.

"This was the first time that the conflict has been discussed sothoroughly and broadly," he said.

Kocharyan said that during the first of their several private meetings, heand Aliev had simply tried to understand one another."Now we are trying toresolve the problem," he said.

There was no way to judge why Kocharyan was so upbeat. There was somespeculation that he and Aliev may have made genuine headway in theirdialogue.

There was also speculation that Kocharyan was playing to the West and theinternational media following the simultaneous admission last week ofAzerbaijan and Armenia to the Council of Europe, an influential humanrights and democracy forum.

There was additional suggestion that the Armenian leader could have beenbasking in the French Senate's resolution of last month declaring that theOttoman Turkish regime committed genocide against its Armenian subjectsduring and immediately after World War I.

Armenia has waged a strident diplomatic campaign to have the killingsinternationally labeled as genocide. Azerbaijan has joined its strategically and ethnic cousin Turkey in condemning the Armenian campaign as apolitically motivated distortion of a complex historical period.

Turkey has threatened severe sanctions against France, and Aliev lodged aprotest with Chirac during their private meeting last week.

The French president, who personally opposed his legislature's approval ofthe genocide resolution, had an especially significant role to play ashost of the latest meeting between Aliev and Kocharyan.

France, along with the United States and Russia, co-chairs the MinskGroup, the special Karabakh mediation unit of the Organization forSecurity and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Chirac offered a sober assessment of last Friday's meeting, saying therehad been "an exchange of views that was general but cordial."

Aliev, while saying several times that progress was slow, said that therehad been improvement in the atmosphere of his conversations withKocharyan.

"We try to make our cases to each other and the process of negotiationscontinues," he said Saturday. "That's why I think this meeting was veryhelpful."

He added that the most productive part of the meeting was when Chirac waspresent. But he said France offered no new peace proposals, and said nonew ideas had recently come from the U.S. or Russia.

But Aliev acknowledged that the visit to Baku and the Armenian capitalYerevan late last month by Russian National Security Council chief SergeiIvanov was connected to the Karabakh conflict. He did not elaborate.

Prior to last week's meeting, Kocharyan restated Armenia's main positionsin Karabakh negotiations. These included equal recognition of all sides inthe conflict, which is code for Yerevan's insistence that the ethnicArmenian rebel administration in Karabakh be party to negotiations.

Kocharyan also said Armenia was opposed to the status of Karabakh as anenclave, meaning that a settlement would have to involve the transfer of asliver of Azeri territory that would connect the rebel territory toArmenia-proper.

Baku has adamantly rejected those positions. It refuses to grant more thangenerous autonomy to Karabakh, and says it won't surrender any of itsinternationally recognized territory.

Countering Kocharyan's position that the Armenian rebels shouldparticipate in negotiations, Aliev said it would only be fair for theethnic Azeri refugees who fled Karabakh during the 1988-94 to berepresented in talks as well. But he said that for now, he and Kocharyanshould continue to negotiate between themselves in coordination with theMinsk Group.

Kocharyan also said Armenia was opposed to the status of Karabakh as anenclave, meaning that a settlement would have to involve the transfer of asliver of Azeri territory that would connect the rebel territory toArmenia-proper.

Baku has adamantly rejected those positions. It refuses to grant more thangenerous autonomy to Karabakh, and says it won't surrender any of itsinternationally recognized territory.

Countering Kocharyan's position that the Armenian rebels shouldparticipate in negotiations, Aliev said it would only be fair for theethnic Azeri refugees who fled Karabakh during the 1988-94 to berepresented in talks as well. But he said that for now, he and Kocharyanshould continue to negotiate between themselves in coordination with theMinsk Group.

Copyright 2001 The Baku Sun

ALIEV AND KOCHARYAN HAVE HURRIED TO REPORT BEFORE MOSCOW?The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan - Robert Kocharyan and HeydarAliev, after returning home from France, where they participated in theofficial ceremony held in the honor of introduction both Transcaucasianrepublics in the council of Europe, and have negotiations regarding thesettlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, had telephone talks with thechapter of the Russian state Vladimir Putin.

According to a report from Kremlin, during each conversation VladimirPutin has congratulated the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan with theintroduction of both republics into the council of Europe, and hasdiscussed common problems concerning the development of bilateralpartnership. As follows from the official press release, the telephonenegotiations were held under the initiative of Cocharyan and Aliev.

The majority of experts are convinced that both presidents actually have"reported" before Moscow, having presented the Russian leader their visionof the Parisian negotiations and their possible outcomes. Symptomaticallythat the meeting of Aliev-Kocharyan held under the initiative of theFrench president Jack Chirac took place in an atmosphere of "saturatedspeculativeness". The Baku and Yerevan MASS-MEDIAS, referring to anonymoussources in diplomatic circles of both republics, approved that thepresidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan need to give particularly in Parisfinal answers concerning two ostensibly prepared by Moscow and Paris newplans regarding the achievement of a peaceful resolution for thelongstanding Karabakh problem. According to these reports, the so-called"Western plan", which authorship Paris ostensibly claims, proposesfreezing the conflict and establishing a comprehensive economicinteraction in the Southern Caucasian region, namely - opening the blockedcommunications between Armenia and Azerbaijan (and equally between Armeniaand Turkey), realization of joint communication and energy transregionalprojects. Yerevan, as the Baku press assured, is more seduced by thisplan. Yerevan repeatedly declared the necessity to take into considerationthe existing status quo in the Karabakh region. The Azerbaijan party, asfollowed from different Media speculations, is ready to give "OK" to theRussian plan, which implies settlement of the conflict on conventionalgears.

According to the last, particularly, the conservation of territorialintegrity of Azerbaijan with granting the highest form of autonomies forNagorno-Karabakh is meant, de jure. However, it is apparent that Yerevancannot accept such plan, which actually means the return to the so-calledLissabon principles, which were rejected still by the former Armenianpresident Levon Ter-Petrosyan.

Nevertheless, it is necessary to mark that there were no officialconfirmations to these reports. However, a number of experts consider thatthe mass demonstrative growth of diplomatic activity around the process ofKarabakh settlement testifies about definite confidential negotiations,which, possibly, took place even during the telephone negotiations betweenPutin-Cocharyan and Putin-Aliev.

The Turkish Parliament's Foreign Relation's Committee approved a billaccusing France of committing genocide against Turks in Anatolia in the1920s during France's occupation of southern Turkey.

Although the deputies agreed to the approval of the bill, they were notable to agree on the exact wording of the text. As a result of thedebates, Mehmet Ali Irtemcelik's proposal was accepted and committeechairman Kamran Inan was charged to prepare a new text.

Irtemcelik suggested not to directly include Algerians in the bill sinceit may weaken the law.

"Turkey did not support the Algerians' struggle for independence againstFrance in the 1950s and did not recognize Algeria's independence in1954. How can Turkey answer any questions from Algeria on thisissue?" Irtemcelik said.

He also indicated that the Armenian massacre of Azeri people inNagorno-Karabakh at the beginning of the 1990s and the assassination ofTurkish diplomats by terrorist organization the Armenian Secret Army forthe Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) may be included in the new draft law.

The committee members will come together next week to discuss a new text.

The problem of landmines exists in all "hot points" of the world. [Passageomitted: international data on people who lost their lives as a result oflandmines]

Unfortunately, this problem has affected Azerbaijan as well. According topreliminary data, over 14,000 Azerbaijani citizens have suffered from minessince the start of the war on the country's territory. Not only theservicemen but also civilians, who returned to the liberated lands, havebecome the victims of these explosive devices.

A news conference held by the UNICEF coordinator, Tekhnaz Dastur, onlandmines in the North Caucasus [on 2 February in Baku] was devoted to thelaunch of a new programme to inform people about the danger posed by mines.She said that as of today, 604 sq.km. of liberated Azerbaijani lands aremined.

It is not difficult to think that this problem is more acute on occupiedlands. According to data by the International Committee of the Red Cross,50,000 mines of various types have been planted in the Nagornyy Karabakhalone including anti-tank mines. The main reason for the increasing numberof people disabled for the rest of their lives is that civilians do not knowmuch about this danger. They do not quite understand the seriousness of theproblem and they cannot recognize landmines.

Therefore, the aim of the aforementioned programme is to increase theknowledge of people about the danger posed by mines. UNICEF launches today[3 February] a training course which will give the necessary knowledge andskills in mine clearing to 15 instructors.

The programme envisages to run the same training course for 800 teachers,500 medical employees and 200 representatives of public organizations in thenear future. These people will be responsible for informing the people whoreturn to their native lands about the danger of mines.

Tekhnaz Dastur said that the programme would be implemented jointly with theAzerbaijani national agency on mine clearing under UNICEF and the USDepartment of State. Plenty of various information material (posters,booklets, video cassettes) for adults and children is aimed at assistingpeople in the country. UNICEF has implemented a similar programme for thepeople in Chechnya and Ingushetia.

Source: Azerbaijan Emergency Code 1, in Russian 03 Feb 01 p3

Armenia has most criminals wanted by Interpol among Caucasian countriesSnark3 Feb 01Yerevan, 3 February: Armenia takes first place compared to otherTranscaucasian countries - Georgia and Azerbaijan - in terms of thenumber of criminals wanted by Interpol. On the Internet site ofthis international detective organization, 36 citizens of Armenia,who have broken the law, have been put on the wanted list,including former Interior Minister Vano Siradegyan, who has been onthe run for a year now.

In terms of the number of criminal elements wanted by the Interpol,Russia comes next - 13 people are wanted, mainly Chechenterrorists. It is followed by Georgia and Azerbaijan. Onecriminal from each of these countries is on the wanted list - pluskidnapped children.

For further information contact:Tomris Azeri, PresidentAzerbaijan Society of America-NJpresident@azerbaijan-america.org

February 5, 2001Armenian Extremism on Trial in Ohio

The Azerbaijan Society of America welcomes the conviction of the formerChairman of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) MuradTopalian by a district court in Ohio. Although a prominentArmenian-American activist and a long-term ANCA Chairman was sentenced forstoring explosives, the investigation by the federal authorities pointedto the links between Mr. Topalian and terrorist acts carried out by theArmenian radicals in New York in 1980s.

Murad Topalian's prominence in the ranks of the Armenian politicalactivists also highlights the acceptance of political violence andterrorism by Armenian radicals driven by ethnocentric ideology. Courtproceedings in Ohio once again showed that Armenian ideologists are tryingto use historical grievances, either real or invented, as justificationfor their brutal violence today.

Mr. Topalian's links to terrorism and political violence should not comeas a surprise, for he and his organization, ANCA, a self-described largestgrass-roots Armenian organization, have actively supported and encouragedArmenia's illegal occupation of 20% of neighboring Azerbaijan and violentethnic cleansing of nearly 1 million Azerbaijani civilians. Certainly,those, who support violence against peaceful civilians abroad, are proneto use violence also at home. Those, who encourage ethnic cleansing onthe occupied Azerbaijani lands, do not hesitate, just as Mr. Topalian, tostore dangerous explosives next door to a children's daycare center inOhio.

Mr. Topalian's conviction and links to political radicals should be a wakeup call for the pro- Armenian Members of US Congress. He was among those,who actively lobbied for enacting the unfair Section 907 of the FreedomSupport Act and supported Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------The Azerbaijan Society of America is a non-profit organization dedicatedto enhancing knowledge about the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Azeri people,their culture and history.

Yerevan, 8 February: Representatives from a number of political forcesrepresented in the Armenian parliament - the Communist Party and [theArmenian Revolutionary Federation -] Dashnaktsutyun - believe that Javakhk(the Armenian-populated area in Samtskhe-Javakheti Region of Georgia)should be given self-government status.

A Dashnaktsutyun representative, Armen Rustamyan, said that it would onlybe a question of self-government, but the problem must be raised not inArmenia, but in Javakhk. Rustamyan said that the right of self-governmentmust be granted in accordance with norms of international law. Thismeasure is necessary to give the ethnic minorities living in this region achance to protect their interests, Rustamyan said.

A Communist Party representative, Frunze Kharatyan, said that the need forJavakhk to have self-government status had matured long ago because a"shortsighted ethnic policy" was being followed in the region.

A representative of the Law and Unity bloc, Artashes Gegamyan, spokeagainst raising this question, as he saw in this a danger of triggering anactive rapprochement between Georgia and Turkey. The raising of thequestion about self-government for Javakhk could serve as grounds forqualifying Armenia as a centre of instability in the region, Gegamyansaid.

[Subhead] Documents of the former Armenian KGB show that this Armenianterrorist organization planned the academician's "liquidation" long ago

Hearings into the case of members of the Velayat-e Faqih Hezbollah terroristgroup have been going on at the [Azerbaijani] court for grave crimesthroughout this week. We should note that the most sensational act by thisgroup in Azerbaijan was the assassination of academician [and MP] ZiyaBunyadov on 21 February 1997 outside his flat.

[passage omitted: details of hearings]

Meanwhile, there are grounds to say that ASALA - the Armenian Secret Armyfor the Liberation of Armenia - might have been the organizer of Bunyadov'smurder. The late academician's sharp statements about Armenians forginghistory and about ideologists of the "Karabakh movement" are not the onlyreason.

The Armenian daily Azg reported on 15 December 2000 that Armenia's statearchives contained documents confirming that ASALA had prepared a terroristact against Ziya Bunyadov back in 1989. The report proceeded from astatement made by the academician's son and reported by [Armenian] Snarknews agency. He said that statements about Hezbollah's involvement in hisfather's assassination were "bizarre and puzzling" and said he was confidentthat the murder had political motives. In turn, Azg says that the centralstate archive of documents of political and public organizations of theRepublic of Armenia (fund 1, list 87, case 43, p51) contains report No1/1961 by the chairman of Armenia's KGB, Valeriy Badamyants, marked "topsecret" and entitled "On reactions by the Armenian community of Iran to thesituation in the Armenian SSR". The Central Committee of the Communist Partyof Armenia received this document dated 6 October 1989 already on 12 Octoberthat year, and the then second secretary of the committee, Oleg Lobov,familiarized himself with it and referred it to the committee's secretary,Galust Galoyan.

Badamyants reports in the document: "Aggravation of the situation in theArmenian SSR due to the blockade by Azerbaijan generates an extremist moodamong a part of Iranian Armenians. For instance, on the eve of the visit toIran by the director of the Institute for Oriental Studies of the Academy ofSciences of the Azerbaijani SSR, Ziya Bunyadov, the leadership of theArmenian Popular Union discussed the expediency of committing a terroristact against Bunyadov by fighters of the Armenian Secret Army for theLiberation of Armenia.

"However, the Iranian leadership of the Armenian Popular Movement (operatingin Iran under the name of Armenian Popular Union - Azg), which was believedto be a political wing of ASALA, refrained from the terrorist act againstZiya Bunyadov proceeding from the following ideas:

- the community is inclined to believe that the Armenian-Azerbaijaniconfrontation will be settled by political means;

- the murder would make the situation in the Transcaucasus extremely tense;

- the Soviet leadership can put up undesirable resistance."

Not long before his assassination, Ziya Bunyadov again found himself in Iranas member of a delegation. The academic was separated from the rest of thedelegation and provided with a car, saying that he would be more comfortableduring the trip. The car crashed en route.

However, this is not the most interesting thing. ASALA has been closelycooperating with Middle Eastern terrorist gangs, including Hezbollah, for along time. In particular, the then Turkish envoy to the USA, Sukru Elekdag,wrote in his letter of 2 December 1985 to members of the US Congress Houseof Representatives: "Recent press reports say that Armenian terrorist groupsare cooperating with their 'colleagues' from Middle Eastern terroristorganizations which are responsible for the bombardment of naval bases andthe US embassy in Beirut."

The USA's Armenian Reporter newspaper wrote on 17 January 1985, quoting areport by Associated Press from Beirut: "ASALA has expressed its support tothe revolutionary movement of radical Lebanese groups. The statement saysthat by its revolutionary activities, the Islamic Jihad organization 'hasbrought a fresh historical wave in the fair struggle of oppressed peoples inthe Middle East and in the struggle for the liberation of western Armeniafrom the Turkish fascist regime'."

Armenian Reporter stresses that Islamic Jihad "has close connections withother radical organizations, including the party of the Most High", i.e.Hezbollah, which are responsible for the bombing of the US embassy inBeirut. The same Armenian Reporter notes in a report from New York dated 9July 1987 that Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, advised the Turkishsecret police in advance to keep an eye on the new developments resultingfrom the establishment of close cooperation between ASALA and Hezbollah, anextremist radical Lebanese underground group actively supporting Iranianleader Ayatollah Khamene'i. Mossad also informed their Turkish colleaguesthat ASALA, acting in concert with Hezbollah, was planning a number of actsof violence against Turkish diplomats and Turkish businesses.

Thus, a close and well-organized partnership existed between ASALA andHezbollah back in 1987. As ASALA cannot function openly on the territory ofAzerbaijan and Turkey, unlike Greece and France, it has to hide under theshield of other organizations. In Turkey, this is mainly the PKK [KurdistanWorkers' Party]. In Azerbaijan, this role was intended for Sadval [Lezginnational movement], and probably, the branch of Hezbollah created by theIranian special services in Azerbaijan, whose members finally killed theacademician.

Now consider this fact: According to our own department of Justice, 25%of all terrorist acts in the United States between 1980-1986 werecommitted by Armenians. Add to that the Armenian hate crimes thatresulted in deaths of more than 70 innocent people around the world since1970. Make up your own mind.

Allegation of Armenian genocide, is a racist way of looking at history.It means 'Turkish dead are not as important as Armenian dead, althoughthere are four times as many Turkish dead as Armenian dead". It ishurtful... It is selective morality... It is unethical, unfair, andun-American...

Armenians must understand that by threats and violence, they will notsilence the truth!

BOOK ON ARMENIAN TERRORISM PUBLISHEDThe AzerNashr publishing house has released a book by Erich Faigle, Thetruth of the terror. Armenian terrorism sources and reasons. The book hasbeen published in Russian language in 1,000 copies and translated fromFrench by Novruz Mammadov. Author of the book, first published in Germanand French in 1986-1987, is Austrian national.The fate of the book is very interesting, as its entire circulationquickly vanished into thin air with only a few presented and librarycopies left. It was ascertained later on that Armenians had bought almostall copies, destroyed them thus perpetrating another type of terrorideological and moral, says Ali Hasanov, Ph.D. in History, in his forewordto the book.The book by Erich Faigle is dedicated to his close friend Erdogan Ozan,former attach for Turkish embassy in Vienna who was killed by Armenianterrorists. Based on documentary evidence, the author says there was nogenocide of Armenians whatsoever and that this is a myth concocted byArmenians themselves. In 1915, 2.5 million Muslims in the Ottoman Empireand Azerbaijan fell victims to Armenian terror.The book also contains numerous materials concerning the tragedy of theAzerbaijan population of Garabagh, Nakhchivan and Zangazur, residents ofBaku, Shamakhi, Guba, etc.The lists of victims of Armenian terror in 70-80s contained in theedition, materials from Turkish archives, maps, and photos give acomprehensive picture of the tragic developments connected with the verynotion of Armenian terrorism, its sources and reasons.AssA-Irada News, February 10-15, 2001

HISTORICAL EVIDENCE CONTRARY TO ARMENIAN ALLEGATIONS IN RUSSIAN ARCHIVESAccording to books prepared by the Armenian Philology Desk atMoscow University , the number of Armenians exposed to deportationwere 438.758, not 1.5 million as alleged. Russian informationsources and books at Moscow University were prepared by using theRussian archives and show the Armenian allegations are untrue. Thebooks stated 382.148 Armenians were put in Syrian refugee campsand others died from illness or terrorist attacks. The books saidthere was no genocide. The Russian documents on the issue will betranslated into English and Turkish. /Turkiye/

Turkish Press Review -- Thu, 08 Feb 01 (fwd)

FRENCH INTELLECTUALS CRITICIZE FRENCH PARLIAMENTAlexandre Adler (journalist): "The balloting was terrible. 20% ofthe parliamentarians who voted was ignorant about foreign policy,the others voted in order to humiliate Turkey because, they areagainst Turkish inclusion in Europe. We presented a stupid gift toKocaryan." Olivier Roy (Islamic Specialist): "This is no wayrelated to France's strategic interests. It was done completedlyfor ballot concerns. While Rwanda and Algeria exist, a vote on amatter which does not concern us is very absurd." Jacques Attali(Writer): "During history, we enjoyed warm French-Turco relations.The decision is a pychological drama. We have to turn new pages.Turkey will be a center of attraction in ten years." DominiqueMoisi (Academician): "There are very powerful and organizedArmenian lobbies. We, the French, submitted to those. Strangely,France is Turkey's the most powerful ally in Europe." /Turkiye/

SECOND ARMENIAN MEMBER OF THE MHPAn Armenian man, reacting to the approval of the so-calledArmenian genocide bill, became a member of the Nationalist ActionParty (MHP) in Yalova's district of Cinarcik. Jirayr Derguzeryan,aged 45 and a Turkish citizen of Armenian origin, stated he wasprotesting the law. He registered into the MHP's Cinarcikcommunity. Derguzeryan said, "I was born in this beautifulcountry, did my military service here and pay my taxes here. Thiscountry has never discriminated against me just because I am anArmenian." Another Armenian, Agop Ficiciyan, joined the MHP inCinarcik the day before. /Aksam/